Raising Elizabeth
by sergeant peace
Summary: Tommy pickles is a single father trying to do right by his little Daughter, but when he's laid off from his job and with old demons rising from his past, can Tommy really be a good roll model for her? or will he need some help.
1. Chapter 1

Tommy woke up in the middle of the night to someone screaming, "Daddy help!" he jumped up and ran into the hall, "Elizabeth?" he shouted, running into her room, she was curled up under her blankets shivering in fear, "Elizabeth what's wrong?" he asked softly.

"bad Dream…" she said her green eyes wide in terror.

"Bad Dream about what?"

Elizabeth didn't say anything, just trying to furrow deeper into her bed.

Tommy sighed and sat next to her, putting an arm around her.

Elizabeth burrowed into her fathers chest.

"you know you can talk to me about anything," he said to his daughter.

She shook her head, not wanting to talk of her dream.

Tommy sighed, laying down, "come on, I'll lay with you until you fall asleep."

She nodded and put her head back on the pillow, closing her eyes.

Tommy looked down at his daughter, _she looks so much like her mother…_ he thought, the only thing that didn't remind him of Rachel was her red hair, she had gotten that from Tommys side of the whereas Tommy was more tanned Elizabeth's skin was fair. He sighed and looked at his daughter, she was already asleep, he careful got out of the bed and walking into the bathroom, he closed the door and sat down on the toilet, looking at his reflection, at his long shaggy hair that fell into his blue eyes and at the Tattoo's that covered his arms, the Tribals on his left and the assorted jumble of different Tattoo's on his right, he rubbed his face and stood up, walking back to his room, he laid down and looked at the Ceiling, falling into an uneasy sleep.

"Daddy! Wake up! Wake up Daddy!" he heard Elizabeth beside him shout, "hurry!"

Tommy groaned and sat up, "what is it baby?" he asked.

"it's time for school!" she said excitedly.

He looked at his daughter and she was already changed into a nice white sundress that she had wanted to wear for the first day of school, she had combed her hair and put her shoes on, her backpack was already on.

Tommy looked at the clock, _6:30, damn… _he thought, "Did you eat already?" he asked.

"yes!" Elizabeth said, looking away from him.

"Really? Let me smell your breath."

Elizabeth looked at him, then took off to the bathroom.

Tommy smiled and got out of bed, he was already in his jeans, so he grabbed a white T-shirt and put it on, then put his work boots on and walked into the kitchen, "what do you want for breakfast!" he shouted to Elizabeth.

"eggs!"

Tommy opened the refridgerator, "damn." He said, covering his nose, a lot of the stuff in it had gone bad, he grabbed some eggs and closed the door, he smelled them to make sure they were all right, and then put them on a pan to cook.

Elizabeth ran in and sat at the tables, she looked at some bills on the table and pointed at one, "daddy what does this word say?"

Tommy looked over at the bills and pulled them away, "nothing…" he said, keeping the unpaid bills behind him and out of sight, he put them in a drawer and brought the eggs over to Elizabeth, putting the food in front of her.

Elizabeth cut into the eggs while Tommy walked into his room again, picking up his packet of Cigarettes into his pocket, he walked back in and Elizabeth was waiting at the door, "lets go daddy, lets go!" she said, jumping up and down.

"calm down." He said smiling, opening the door, the two walked out hand in hand down the street, "so are you going to get to stay the whole day with me?" she asked.

"no, I got to go to work." He said.

"Oh…" she said deflating a little, "are you going to pick me up after school?"

"aunt Angelica is, and you'll be able to stay the day over at her house.

She brightened a little, then she stopped walking as they approached the school.

Tommy looked at her, "what's wrong?"

"what if the other kids don't like me? Or the Teacher's mean…maybe we should just go home."

"oh no," Tommy said smiling, "Your going to school, you were so exited about it yesterday.'

Elizabeth nodded, but didn't move.

"how about I go in with you," tommy asked. Elizabeth nodded and grabbed her dads hand, the two walked in, looking around, "who is your teacher again?" Tommy asked.

"Ms. Ramone." Elizabeth said looking around.

Tommy nodded and looked down the hall, seeing the name, "come on." He said, leading her into the room.

"welcome to Kindergarten." Ms. Ramone said introducing herself to some of the parents, her brown hair was pulled up in a pony tail and some wire rimmed glasses framed her brown eyes, "welcome to Kinder- Oh god!" she jumped a little, looking at Tommy, "Um…I think your looking for highschool." She said.

Tommy raised his eyebrow, "I'm dropping my daughter off." He said.

"oh…sorry…" she said, turning red.

Tommy shrugged and turned to his daughter, "now you be a good girl." He said, "don't get into any fights," then he leaned in closer and whispered, "unless they ask for it."

"okay daddy!" she said and gave him a little kiss on the cheek, then ran over to some of the kids, her fear gone.

Tommy smiled, and stood up.

"You look familiar…have I met you before?" Ms. Ramone asked.

"don't think you have." He said, walking out, his hands in his pockets.

Tommy walked onto the construction site, looking at the half finished building, "in a few more years this will be the biggest skyscraper in the western Hemisphere." He muttered, 'as soon as we figure out how to keep the beams from breaking…" he walked in.

"Yo tommy!" one of the other workers shouted, "boss wants to see you!"

Tommy looked up, "alright." He said running over to the trailer that served as his boss's office, he knocked and walked in, "you wanted to speak to me Mr. Green?"

A man looked up, he was dressed in a business suit but had on work boots and a hard hat.

"ah Tommy! Good to see you again!" the big man said, "sit down.

Tommy sat down, "is this going to take long? I got a few beams that need to be welded before lunch time."

"no you don't Tommy." Mr. Green said, " you see…the guys higher up have decided…your division is not needed for the rest of the project.

Tommy looked at him stunned, "sir, we're the only ones certified to handle the welding equipment."

"I know…but it wasn't my decision, I'm sorry tommy.

"how can you do this? Man I got a kid to feed, so do the other guy's, you expect us to just scrap by with the bullshit check we'll be getting' for being fired?"

"I'm sorry Tommy, I can't do anything, please, tell your division the news and leave."

"too scared to tell them yourself?" Tommy spat, "want me to do your dirty work?"

"Tommy!" Green shouted, standing up, "leave, before I have security take you out."

Tommy glared at him, then turned around and walked out, slamming the door behind him, he walked into the area where his division was waiting, he looked around, wanting to punch something, he saw one of the large wooden beams going up inside, he ran over to it and started punching it, denting the wood, "FUCK!" He shouted, "son of a bitch!"

"Tommy what's going on!" one of the guy's asked him.

"we've been laid off man!" tommy said, "fucking Corporate said we weren't needed."

There were cries of outrage around are we going to do!" one shouted.

Tommy listened to them, "best we can do is leave," he muttered, "go job hunting."

They nodded and all started walking towards the exit, Tommy past the office again,he looked through the window and saw Mr. Green with his feet propped up on the desk laughing and talking on the phone, Tommy clenched his fists and ran over to the office, throwing the door open.

"tommy what is it now?" Green asked, right before Tommy punched him.

* * *

Angelica stormed into holding, "where is he!" she shouted, her blonde hair was tied back, and her business suit was a little wrinkled, probably from running into the police station.

The cops looked at her, "you here for Pickles?"

"yes." She said angrily, "I'm here to bail his dumbass out."

The cop nodded and handed Angelica the papers to sign, she signed them and the

cops left, coming out a little later with Tommy.

"hey cuz…" tommy muttered, his eye was black.

"tommy, why the hell did you punch your Boss!"

"he was being a douche…" Tomm said.

"so that's a good enough reason to break his nose,dislocate his jaw, blacken his eyes and give him a minor concussion!"

"no, the good reason was that the bastard fired my entire division!" Tommy shouted.

Angelica looked at him shocked, "He…he did what!"

"fired my entire division, he kept saying, "corporate told me too, corporate told me too, we don't have enough money.'" corporate came by last week, gave us an extra 50,000 dollars to finish earlier, we didn't see a penny of that 50,000."

Angelica's gears were spinning in her head, "come on Tommy." She muttered, "lets get you home."

"Did you pick up Elizabeth?" he asked.

"yeah," she said, "I left her at home, she was taking a nap when I left."

Tommy sat in Angelica's car, "you know you'll have to find another job Tommy." Angelica said.

"I know…I know…but where?"

she shrugged, "I hear the schools hiring a Janitor."

Tommy rolled his eyes, "yeah, like they'll wan't my ass back their."

"it's better than nothing tommy," she said, "now, tomorrow you will find a job, and then go talk to that little gay brother of yours, he's been bothering me about having a family day for the longest of times and I'm getting tired of it."

Tommy smiled a little, "alright Angelica…" he muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

_Tommy sat with Z and Kimi in the choir room, "so you guy's ready for the battle of the bands?" Tommy asked._

"_No," Z said sulkily, 'Suzie quit, said her parents want her to focus on academics."_

"_You're shitting me." Tommy said._

"_Nope, we still got Po, but I doubt we can win it without a lead singer like Suzie."_

_Tommy scratched his head, "whelp this will be harder than I first thought." He said, "I'll see you guy's tomorrow try to find someone to replace Suzie," he stood up and walked out of the building, going down the street to the Bus stop 'how am I gonna find another lead singer?' he thought to himself._

"_WATCH OUT!" someone shouted and suddenly Tommy was lying flat on his back, someone lying on top of him._

"_I am so sorry!" the person (a girl) said, "are you okay?"_

"_Ask me in about five minutes." Tommy groaned, trying to sit up._

"_Again I am so sorry," she said, getting off of him, "I was hurrying to the college, and I didn't see you…"  
_

_Tommy looked up at her and his heart stopped, in front of him was the most beautiful girl ever, her brown hair cascading down her shoulders and back, her green eyes were filled with concern and were apologetic, her clothes also caught his eye, a black tank top and a ripped pair of skinny jeans, at her side was a skateboard, momentarily forgotten, "uh…It's alright…I wasn't paying attention…" he said._

"_Well I'm still convinced it was me who hit you,' she said, holding her hand out, "I'm Rachel by the way, Rachel alcroft,"_

"_Uh…Tommy…Tommy Pickles." Tommy said shaking her hand, "so uh…why were you going to the school in such a rush?"_

"_I wanted to sign up for choir before it was too late, see I'm new to this town, and I wanted to get everything taken care of today._

"_Oh...so you like to sing?"_

"_Yes." She said eagerly, "music is my passion.'_

"_What kind's of bands do you listen to?"_

"_Oh all kinds, Avenged Sevenfold, Luke Bryant, Toby Keith, Eminem."_

"_Man you like a lot of different Genre's.'_

"_Of course!" she said smiling, 'got to love them all." She righted her skateboard and got on, "well I better get going Tommy, I'll see you later!" and with that she was off again._

_Tommy watched her leave with a smile on his face, his phone started ringing and he answered it._

"_Yo Tommy, we just got ahold of Po, he's still up for it."_

"_That's good," tommy said, "and I think I found our new lead singer."_

* * *

Tommy woke up with his buzzer going off, he groaned and sat up, he looked at it, '5:30" he muttered, usually he would get up and go to work, but that was out of the question now, "fuckin' green." He muttered, he heard a knock on the door and he stood up, walking over to it, before he even got there it opened.

"Hey Tommy." Kimi said, walking in and laying down on the couch, 'How's life?"

"Kimi, how are you, come in," tommy muttered.

"Sorry, I was getting tired of waiting, I was out there for like an hour."

"Shoulda staid out there." He muttered, walking into the kitchen, he opened the fridge and again the stink hit him, "Fuck," he muttered, slamming it, "I gotta go shopping…"

"Then go, wasn't pay day yesterday?"

"Not for me." Tommy muttered.

"Why? Another pay cut.'

"No, my entire division got laid off."

"Now that's bullshit." Kimi said, she picked up Tommy's pack and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it.

"Come on Kimi do that outside, not in here."

"Why?" she asked.

"My daughters asleep in the next room, and she doesn't like me smoking anymore."

"Fine," she said, standing up and going outside, "you wanna come along."

"Hell yeah, I need one." Tommy said following.

"So why'd they fire you?" Kimi asked, holding his pack out to him.

Tommy took his pack and pulled one out, "said there wasn't enough in the budget to keep us going." He lit the tip of the cigarette, "but I know that's bullshit."

Kimi nodded, "so what did you do?'

"For one, I beat the shit out of my boss and got thrown in jail."

She laughed, "Damn, I can't believe you did that! How'd you get out?"

"My cousin," he said, "she almost kicked my ass when she came to get me."

Kimi laughed again and tommy smiled a little, he looked at the Japanese girl, she still looked the same from when they were in high school, the only difference was that her brown hair was longer, but everything was still the same, her brown eyes still had that twinkle of mischief in them, "so what are you going to do for a job?" she asked.

"I have no idea, Angelica was talking about the high school hiring, but I don't think Pangborn would want me back there."

"Well the high school's better than nothing, I work there, it's not that bad, you can mop and sweep for another two years," she said, "or, you can join me and Z and start up the band."

Tommy sighed, "Kimi…how many time am I going to tell you and Z that I can't?"

"Come on, you can leave Elizabeth with Dil or your mother, and then you can make a lot of money playing!"

"Kimi, I'm not leaving my daughter for a week to go play a gig that'll get me a pay for one days work."

"Come on Tommy, we need you back."

"Again Kimi no," he said, "Besides, I don't know where my old Les Paul is."

"I bet it's still at you're ma's house."

"I'm not lookin' for it." Tommy said, 'so just drop it."

"Fine, sheesh."

"So how's Z?"

"He's good, just got out of jail."

"What was he in for this time?"

"Punching a cop for being a douche."

Tommy sighed, "He's just not having a good month is he?"

'Nope," she said, "So do you need me to drop Elizabeth off? I can still do that."

"No, I can do it."

She nodded, then jumped off the porch "well then, I'll see you later tommy, try not to get tossed back into the slammer."

"Will do Kim." He said as she left, he sighed and walked in, "maybe I can get a few more hours of sleep before Elizabeth wakes up.

* * *

Tommy and Elizabeth walked down the street together, Elizabeth dressed in about the same way as she was yesterday, a yellow sundress and black sandals, her hair in a braid "Daddy, I learned how to spell my name yesterday!"

"Really?" tommy asked, "That's great.'

"I can spell it without any help!" she said proudly, "I bet I can spell your name.'

'Well that's good, because I forget how to spell my name."

Elizabeth giggled, "So how come Aunt Kimi didn't take me to school today?"

"Because daddy has the day off."

"Are you going to stay with me at school!" she asked excitedly.

"No, I got a few things I need to do."

"Oh…okay." She said simply.

"So did you make any friends yesterday?"

"Yep! I made two, ones name is Alyssa, she's quiet, and doesn't really talk but she's alright, the other ones name is Dane, and all he cares about is basketball."

"Well basketball is pretty fun." Tommy said.

"Yeah but he never wants to play other games, just basketball."

Tommy shrugged, "oh well, how about you join him?'

"I don't know how to play."

"I can teach you,' tommy said, "you're dad used to be one of the best basketball players in the city.'

"Really?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course, in high school I was on Varsity." He said, 'until a few things got me kicked off of varsity."

"What got you kicked off?"

"Oh…just some…stupid stuff." He said, rubbing his arm. "Point is I can still teach you."

"Can we do it this afternoon?"

"Of course sweetie."

"Yay!" Elizabeth shouted gleefully.

Tommy smiled, watching his daughter.

"That poor girl doesn't know her father's a dead-beat." Someone said behind him, making tommy stiffen up.

"I know, I bet he doesn't even have a job, probably too busy with his addictions, you know guy's like that are always addicted to something."

Tommy clenched his fists,

"Oh I know, and I bet the mother is even worse, probably a crack-whore."

"How about you two shut up!" Tommy shouted at them turning around, surprising the two, they didn't think he was listening.

"Uh…uh…what are you talking about?" she asked.

"Yeah, we were just walking along."

"Do you think I'm stupid or something?" he asked angrily, "I heard every word you two were saying."

"Look we were just…"

"Shut up!" he growled, "don't try to cover your ass."

"Daddy…" Elizabeth started.

Tommy stopped glaring at the two girls and turned to his daughter, she looked scared, "daddy, are you angry?"

"No baby," he said softly, going over to her and kneeling in front of her.

"But you were yelling at those two girls." She said.

"I wasn't mad baby, I'm sorry for yelling," he said, "come on, lets get you to school," he stood up and he and Elizabeth started walking, he turned around and flipped off the two women as he walked.

After dropping Elizabeth off Tommy walked into the High school, students were milling around, talking to friends and teachers, a few of the Football players were throwing a football to each other, Tommy walked passed them and into the office.

'Are you Mr. Pickles?" the secretary asked.

"Yeah," tommy said.

"Go on in." she said, "principal Pangborn is waiting."

Tommy walked in.

"PICKLES!" Pangborn shouted, "why are you in my office again! How many times are you going to get in trouble!"

"Pangborn, I'm not a student here anymore."

"Oh…that makes sense…" Pangborn said, "What do you want?"

"I'm here to apply for a job."

"oh, so your whole 'I'm going to be a rock star' thing not work out?" he asked smugly.

"Apparently not." Tommy muttered.

"Why should I give you a Job Pickles? What have you ever done for me?"

"I got you and Ms. O'Keats together." Tommy said.

'Actually it's Mrs. Pangborn now…" Pangborn muttered, "fine, I'll see what I can do, if you get the job I'll call you next week, but if you mess up Pickles…"

"I know, I know," tommy said standing p, "thanks Pangborn.' He said walking out. He walked down the street and onto his old street; he needed to see his mother.

* * *

Elizabeth sat at the schools basketball court with Dane and Alyssa, "come on Elizabeth!" Dane shouted, "Come play!"

"I don't want to mess up my Dress playing basketball." She said.

"Quit being such a girl." Dane shouted, "come on, Alyssa's playing.'

"Because you made me…" Alyssa muttered quietly.

Elizabeth shrugged and looked around the playground, most of the kids were running around and playing different games, Elizabeth stood up and walked over to Dane, 'why do you like basketball so much?"

"Because it's fun." He said.

Alyssa walked over, "I'm winning." She said.

"No your not!"

"I scored five times while you were talking to Elizabeth." She said.

"That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair," she said simply.

Dane was about to say something when a rock hit his head, "Ow!" he shouted,

Someone started laughing and Elizabeth turned around, seeing a sandy haired kid laughing at them, his clothes looked new, and he had a pair of sunglasses, "dork!" he shouted, throwing another rock, this time Dane dodged the rock.

"Throwing things isn't nice," Alyssa whispered, suddenly very quiet.

"Hey!" Elizabeth shouted, "Quit throwing rocks!"

"Shut up!" he said to her, "your not the boss of me!"

He threw a medium sized rock and it hit Alyssa in the head, Alyssa started crying, holding her head.

Elizabeth glared at him, then stomped over.

"What are you going to do? Go whine to the teachers?" he asked laughing.

Elizabeth reared back and punched him.

* * *

Tommy was asleep on the couch, the room looked cleaner then usual, the beer bottles that he always forgot to throw away were in trashbags, the rotted food was already in the dumpster, and the floors were vacuumed and swept up, Tommy rolled over and fell off the couch, instantly he jumped up, "what the…" he muttered looking around, he yawned and rubbed his eyes, looking at his watch, "oh shit, I gotta go pick up Elizabeth." He ran out the door and ran down the street to the elementary school, as he got across the street Ms. Ramone walked over, "Mr. Pickles." She said, "we've been trying to get ahold of you for two hours, do you not answer your phone?"

"No, my phone got disconnected last night, why are you trying to call me? I thought school ended fifteen minutes ago?"

"What?" she asked confused.

"That's why you called me right? Because I wasn't here to pick her up?"

"No, she got into a fight during Recess."

"Oh man," he said, "I'm sorry, where is she now?"

"She's in the principals office." She said.

Tommy sighed and walked into the building, going into the office, "I'm here to see the principal," he said to the secretary."

"He's waiting on a parent to come pick up his daughter." She said.

"I'm the parent in question."

She looked up and looked him over, "I can see why she's in trouble." She said, "Go on in."

Tommy glared at her then walked in, inside Elizabeth was sitting in the corner, looking down, her yellow sundress was dusty and had blood on it, "Elizabeth! Are you alright?" tommy asked worriedly, running over to her.

"I'm fine dad," she said.

"Are you bleeding?"

"No, it's the other kids' blood."

Tommy nodded to her.

"Mr. Pickles," the principal said, "your daughter savagely beat my son for no reason!"

"He was throwing rocks at us!" she said, "he hit Alyssa in the head! And I didn't savagely beat him!" she looked down, and then muttered. "I only got one punch in before the teachers came."

Tommy looked at the principal, "it sounds like a good reason to hit him.'

"Mr. Pickles, I do not care what your daughter thinks my son did, my son is a good kid, he wouldn't be throwing rocks, he said your daughter just attacked him!"

"What did the other kids say?" Tommy asked angrily, "Did you ask them what happened."

"I didn't have to, I trust my son."

"So just because your son said what happened, means that whatever my daughter says is wrong?"

"Well looking at her father I can tell that she's probably used to lying."

"What do you mean looking at me." Tommy growled.

The principal shrank back, 'I-I only mean…"

"Shut up," tommy said, "come on Elizabeth, let's go."

Elizabeth jumped off the chair and the two walked out, ignoring the principals' shouts of protest.

Elizabeth was quiet as they walked out, tears falling from her eyes.

"Why are you crying baby?" tommy asked her.

"You're going to get mad at me." She pouted.

"No I'm not going to get mad at you," he said softly.

'I started a fight, I was sent to the principals office."

"You didn't start it, that little…kid that threw the rocks started the fight, you defended yourself."

"So…you're not going to get mad?"

"Of course not." He said, "on one condition.'

"What is it?"

"Did you hit him your hardest?"

Elizabeth smiled, "yeah, punched him in the nose."

Tommy smiled, "that's my girl." He said, picking her up, she giggled as he did.

"See, I told you he wasn't a good father, I mean look at his daughter, she's filthy!"

Tommy heard this and stopped.

"I heard she attacked the principals son because he asked her if they could play."

Tommy clenched his fists and kept walking, 'you wanna go see grandma?"

"Yes!" Elizabeth said excitedly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to SuperGeorgia and BlkWilliams for reviewing, a special thanks to berrisweet101 for helping me with the story.**

Tommy sat with his mother at the table while Elizabeth watched TV; in front of him was a plate with a hamburger on it.

"So you lost your job," Didi said, "and now you're a janitor?"

"Sounds about right." Tommy said, picking up the hamburger and biting into it.

"What about rent?'

"I have two weeks until I have to pay rent, and payday's two days before rents do, I only need eighty dollars, two weeks of work will get me there."

"Well I wish you the best." Didi said, "lord know's you need it.'

Tommy nodded, "so how's retirement?" Tommy asked.

"It's very good," Didi said smiling, 'I finally get to have some relaxation times, something I never got when you and your brother were here.

Tommy scratched his head, "yeah, we really ran you into the ground didn't we?" he asked, Since Tommy had been little his mother was the one that actually took care of them, his father had left when Dil had been born, leaving Didi to take care of both of them, which made tommy hate his father even more.

"You two never seemed to run out of energy," she said, "I thought someone fed you sugar for breakfast lunch and dinner."

Tommy shrugged grinning, "I think I just made things worse for you." He said, he looked over at Elizabeth, who had fallen asleep watching Avatar.

"How's Elizabeth doing?'

"Oh she's great, just enrolled her in school, and she's already got a group of friends."

"It took you forever to get friends," she said, "you always got into fights for the stupidest of reasons, like when that one little boy pulled Kimi's hair and you beat him up."

"He shouldn't have pulled her hair," Tommy muttered, "and speaking of fights, Elizabeth got into one today."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, some punk was throwing rocks at her and her friends, even hit her friend Alyssa in the head, so Elizabeth walked over and punched him."

"What did the principal said."

"The kid she punched was his son, so he sided with him, he was convinced my daughter was no good because of who her father was."

"Well that's not very fair." Didi said.

"Guess now a days there's no such thing as fair," he said, "it's who your parents are and how much of a pampered little…prince you are." Tommy said, catching himself in time.

Didi sighed, "but why would he just follow his sons word so blindly? Everyone can see that Elizabeth is the sweetest girl, she can't hurt a fly."

"Apparently she can," tommy said smirking, "considering she punched the boys lights out."

Didi shook her head, smiling, "she has a small bit of her father in her, but I think she's too much like her mother.'

Tommy's smirk disappeared, "I know…" he muttered, "she reminds me so much of her…"

"I know," Didi said, "the only difference is her hair."

Tommy nodded then stood up, "I better get her home," Tommy said, "if I know her she'll be out for the rest of the night.'

"be good Tommy, I don't want Angelica bailing you out again, she's got enough problems of her own."

Tommy nodded and picked up Elizabeth's sleeping body, "goodbye ma, we'll visit Sunday," he said, walking out.

"goodbye tommy! Don't forget to get here early! "

"of course!" tommy said, walking down the street,he walked a couple of blocks and then turned down his street, he got to his house and saw someone's' car parked in his driveway, 'what the hell?" Tommy muttered, then walked into the house, in the living room was a guy going through the bags that Tommy had forgotten to throw away, he was a sturdy looking man with a shaved head, he was in a business suit, his suit jacket on the chair as he inspected things with critical eyes, "excuse me," tommy said, "can I ask you why your in my house?"

"ah you must be Mr. Pickles." He said standing up.

"yeah," tommy said, "and who are you?"

"I'm with Child services,my name is Agent Carter, I got a call from the school today saying that your daughter left the school with a bloody nose, two concerned parents said that they saw you hit her."

"what?"

"you heard me," Carter said, standing up, "Now, I don't know if the part where you hit her is true, but in my search I did find a pretty yellow dress covered in dry blood in the trash." He said, "care to explain."

"she got into a fight at school," tommy said, "Kid was throwing rocks at her and her friends, she punched him, gave him a bloody nose and the blood got on her clothes, i didn't even want to try and get the blod out so i put it in the trash.."

"were their any eyewitnesses."

"I don't know, I only found out when I went to go pick her up." Tommy muttered, carrying Elizabeth into her room and laying her in the bed, putting the covers over her, he walked back.

"mhmm, from what the principal says, he tried calling you numerous times to talk to you, do you not have a phone Mr. Pickles?"

"it got shut off yesterday night."

"ah, struggling to pay." Carter said, pulling out a clip board and writing something down, "now, I'm here to make sure Elizabeth is taken care of,and from what I've seen, it's not going too good for you, unpaid bills in the trash, over a dozen empty beer bottles with them," Carter reached into his pocket and pulled something out, tossing it to him, "and I found these on the coffee table, within reach of your daughter, and with a lighter in side."

"damn it kimi." Tommy muttered.

"kimi, who is this? You're wife? Girlfriend?"

"friend," tommy said, "I don't have a wife or a girlfriend."

"then where is her mother."

"she…she's passed."

Carter nodded, "sorry for your loss." He said, "now, normally, with these conditions, no food in the fridge, no job, unpaid bills, Alcohol and Cigarettes close to the child, fights, I could take all this to the cops, to the courts, and have Elizabeth put in my custody so we can put her in a foster home, but I also see that you're trying Mr. Pickles, so here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you a month before I come back to check up on you, if things have improved, then my report goes into the trash, but if they are the same, or worse, I'll have to call it in." Carter pulled out a card and placed it on the counter, "if you need anything call me," he said, walking out into the night.

Tommy watched him leave, his hands balled up into fists, his hair covered his eyes as tears streaked down his face.

* * *

_Tommy sat with Rachel backstage, "you ready?" tommy asked her._

"_um…I'm not sure," she muttered, 'I'm so nervous, what if we lose?"_

"_then we sign up for the next battle," Tommy said, "and the next until we win."_

"_But…but what if…what if I'm not good enough?"_

"_Rachel, you're perfect, okay you're going to go out there and rock it while I try to keep up."_

Rachel smiled a little, "you never can keep up with me pickles," she said.

"_that's the spirit." Tommy said grinning._

_Z walked over, "hey guy's, we're on in like five minutes," he said, "our stuff's already on stage, lets go!"and with that he took off to the stage._

_Tommy smiled and stood up, helping Rachel up, "wait, before we go." Tommy said, kissing Rachel._

"_w-w-what was that for?" she asked, blushing a bit._

"_good luck." He said grinning, running onto the stage, Rachel followed, a smile on her face._

"_and now, introducing a new upcoming band, Birdsong!" the announcer shouted, their were polite claps as the curtain opened, showing the four teens standing on stage._

_Tommy started strumming his guitar, playing the intro to 'bullets' by creed, Z stepped forward and breathed into the mike, "walking around I hear the sound, the earth seeking relief, I'm trying t find a reason to live but the mindless clutter my bath, oh these thorns in my side, oh, these thorns in my side,, I know I have something free, I have something so alive. But I think they shoot 'cause they want it, I think they shoot 'cause they want, I THINK THEY SHOOT CAUSE THEY WANT IT!"_

_The sudden change in tempo caused the audience to sit up straighter and listen, mesmerized by the skill of this new band, they all jumped up and cheered as they finished the song, screams for an encore echoed through._

"_alright, lets slow it down a little." Tommy said into the mike and nodded to kimi, who leaned over to a keyboard at her side, playing a few simple key strokes, Rachel took a deep breath and walked forward._

"_how can you see into my eyes, like open doors?"_

_at the first line many in the audience jumped up in joy. "i love this song!" someone shouted in the back._

_Rachel smiled and continued, at the chorus Tommy sang the male parts and the crowd went nuts, the band Birdsong walked off stage, before the curtains closed the audience got a look of Rachel kissing Tommy, who leaned into the kiss eagerly._

"_what was that for?" Tommy asked smiling._

_Rachel looked into his eyes, smiling, "for good luck," she said mockingly, walking away._

* * *

the buzzer went off in Tommy's ear, making him sit up, Dil was sitting next to him wearing his usual weird clothes, "slept in again huh T?" he asked, holding the buzzer, the time on it said 10:30 AM.

"oh shit." tommy said getting up.

"it's alright, I already took her to school," Dil said standing up, "I heard you had a rough night last night."

"Yeah, some chump from child services came, told me I have a month to make everything better," Tommy stood up and walked over to the lightswitch, flicking it up, but the power didn't turn on, he flicked it on and off but the lights remained off, "and now they shut my power off, fuckin' great."

"you need money?" Dil asked.

"no," Tommy muttered, he always hated when Dil asked that, since he had started working for some big time corporation Dil has found that he has more money then he needs, and he always tries to give it to Tommy, much to the older boy's irritation, "I don't need your money Dil, you know I don't take hand outs."

"Don't see it as a hand out T, see it as one bro helping another."

"I see it as a hand out dil, and I don't take hand outs, I said that I could take care of Elizabeth without help from anyone else, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"come on T, you know you need some help,"

"no I don't Dil, I get my check today, so that should help."

Dil sighed, "alright, alright."

"so, how's Josh?"

"oh he's doing great," Dil said, "he got a job at First National Bank as a teller, and we've gotten a nice house ni the suberbs."

"awesome bro," Tommy said, then noticed something on Dil's hand, "hey dil, what's that?"

Dil looked at his hand, "oh yeah, I was hoping to tell everyone Sunday," he pulled the ring off of his hand, "Josh proposed a few days ago."

Tommy's eyes widened a little, "That's…that's awesome Dil."

"yeah I know," Dil said, "I didn't think he was going to do it until I saw the ring."

"I'm happy for you man, who woulda known Josh was going to do it huh?"

"I know," he said, "so, what are you going to do today?"

"I gotta go get my last check from the construction yard," Tommy said, picking up his jacket and putting it on.

"I heard about you getting fired, sorry bro.

"don't be, the boss was a douche."

Dil nodded, "so are you going to need me to pick up Elizabeth?"

"yeah," tommy said, "that would help," he walked out and down the street, back towards his old job site.

* * *

Mr. Green sat in his office, counting up the money he made this month, and all the money he had cheated out of the workers, "almost makes me guilty doing this," he said, smirking, "almost."

A knock on the door made him look over, "come in!" he said, quickly putting away the paperwork, he almost jumped up in fear when he saw Tommy Pickles walk in, "Pickles! W-w-what are you doing here!"

"I'm here for my last check," tommy said, glaring at Mr. Green, "or are you going to hold that from me too."

Uh…why of course not!" green said, pulling out a check and writing on it, 'h-here.'

Tommy took it and looked at it, "this isn't right," he said, you owe me another hundred."

"I-i-i-I do?"

"yes," tommy said, "what kind of trick are you tryin' to pull Green."

'No trick!" Green said angrily, "the hundred is for assaulting me!"

"I already paid that fee!" Tommy shouted, "you can't do that!"

"oh but I did Tommy!" Green growled, "you're lucky I'm giving you that! If I had it any other way I wouldn't give you anything! Especially since your violating the restraining order the court gave you."

Tommy clenched his fists, "you little snake." He growled.

"what are you going to do? Go to the authorities? Who are they going to believe? A drop out, or someone with actual credibility to his name. Now get out, before I call for security."

Tommy glared at him then left.

Mr. green smiled, he was scared of Tommy, the boy had more evidence to put Green away then anyone, _but I still have some power over him, _Green tought with a satisfied smirk.

* * *

Tommy sat with his back to the wall of some business, "I'm so fucked," he said, "I'm going to be short this month…" he sighed and looked around, then stood up, walking down the street, going to a payphone, dialing a number.

"…hello?" Kimi's voice asked.

"Kimi, it's tommy."

"hey Tommy, what's up?'

"you got a gig lined up yet?"

"yeah," Kimi said, "got it yesterday."

"still room for me?"

"you mean you'll do a gig?'

"yeah, I'll do it." Tommy said, _I have to…_


	4. Chapter 4

Tommy walked into the office thirty minutes before the beginning of school, "hey Mr. Pangborn."

"Pickles," Pangborn said, 'glad you came, so today is your first day on the job and I don't want you to be causing any messes."

"Why would I cause them, then I'd have to clean them."

"Well…alright, so you will be cleaning up the choir rooms, the band hall, the cafeteria, and hallway 300."

Tommy cringed a little; Pangborn had just assigned him the messiest rooms in the entire school, "are you sure?"

"Positive." Pangborn said with a smirk.

Tommy sighed, 'where's the supply closet?"

"Down the hall to the right." Pangborn said.

Tommy walked down the hall and to the small janitorial closet, he opened it up and looked around, the cleaning supplies were neatly organized and two carts were already ready to go out, he pulled one out and walked towards the cafeteria, _this is going to suck, _Tommy thought.

* * *

_I was right, _Tommy thought angrily to himself, the entire day had been complete hell, first in the cafeteria the kids made it a point to wreck everything they could and make as much of a mess as they could, then in hallway 300 Tommy had to clean up an assortment of spit, piss in the bathrooms and blood, and every time he finished cleaning up, someone had to come along and mess it up. Now tommy was going to the joint band/choir hall he pushed open the door and turned on the light, it dimly came on, he looked around, "holy shit." he muttered, it looked like no one had come in this room for a while, the ground was coated with a thick layer of dust, the windows were covered in cobwebs, dirt, and grime, the walls had graffiti written on them, and one of the trashcans had charred wood in it the light fixtures were covered in plastic which made the light coming from them dimmer.

"Kinda bad isn't it?" someone asked, "this is the first year we're actually using this room, considering the one Pangborn gave us is now too small for our choir."

Tommy turned around and came face to face with a woman around his age, she was dressed more or less like a teenager, a black veil bride T-shirt, Skinny jeans, and black boots, her brown hair was flowing down her back naturally, and one of her bangs were dyed red, "are you a student?" she asked.

"uh no, I'm the janitor," he said, "you know, clean floors, wash windows, wipe blood off the ground after a fight."

"Oh... cool," she said, "I'm Lil Deville, students call me Ms. Deville, I'm the music teacher."

"I woulda thought you were a student." He said, "Based on your clothes."

"Don't judge a book by its cover," she said, walking into the room, as she walked Tommy couldn't help but look at her figure, "damn…" he muttered.

"Excuse me?" she asked turning around, "did you say something?"

"Uh nothing," he said, 'I was just wondering how I was going to get this clean before the end of the day."

"Do you need some help? I'm not doing anything right now and Choir class doesn't start for another three hours.

'Yeah sure," Tommy said, he pulled two brooms out and handed her one, the two started cleaning up.

'So what's your name?" she asked.

"Tommy Pickles." Tommy said.

"Your name sounds familiar…were you ever in a band?"

"Yeah…once, we were named Birdsong."

She looked at him disbelievingly, "I loved that band!" she said, "I went to see your first performance! I even remember the members! There was Kimi Finster, Z, you of course, a guy named Po and a girl named Rachel, you guy's were awesome."

Tommy smiled sadly, "yeah…too bad good times don't always last, I haven't played with the band for a while, they called me up last week and asked if I could play this week."

"Why don't you do it?" she asked, "come on, reminiscing about the old days, playing a few of your songs, it sounds fun!"

"Yeah, I am going, but that leaves me with a problem,"

"What's the problem?'

"I have a daughter, and I don't want to leave her alone, and my brother and mother are busy that night."

She thought about it, "I know! I'll go to your gig and she can sit with me, that way you can go, your daughter's taken care of and I get to listen to the band.'

"That's a pretty good idea," he said, looking at her, 'you really are a teacher huh?'

Lil laughed a little, she saw something around Tommy's neck that pulled her curiosity, "what's that?" she asked.

"What's what?"

"That necklace around your neck."

Instantly tommy's hand went up to it, tucking it into his shirt, "It's nothing…" he muttered, "Nothing at all."

"Oh…okay…" Lil said, and they finished sweeping in silence, "so…what's your daughters name?" Lil asked after they put the brooms up.

"Elizabeth," Tommy said, "she's in kindergarten."

"Elizabeth…I've heard about her!"

"What?'

"My brother's girlfriend is her teacher," Lil said, "she says that Elizabeth got into a fight not to long ago."

"Yeah," Tommy said, "she won it too, got her fighting skills from her dad."

"But she got busted."

"She got her lying skills from her mother."

Lil smiled, "so who is the lucky girl that bagged the lead guitarist?"

Tommy let his head fall a little, his good mood gone, 'I gotta go," he muttered, "see you tonight." He turned and started walking.

"Tommy…" Lil started, but he was already gone.

* * *

Tommy stood back stage getting ready, he had found his Les Paul in his old room and was now tuning it.

"Hey Tom!" Z said walking over, Tommy turned to his old friend, he looked about the same, the only thing was That Z was paler then before, and a lot more skinny, "how's it been man?"

"It's been good Z,' Tommy said, "what about you? I heard that you got locked up."

"Yeah, it was some chump in a blue suit, he wouldn't lay off of me so I punched him."

"That man in a blue suit was a cop," Kimi said walking over, "and he was just telling you to check the break light."

Z shrugged, "so Tommy, heard you're a Janitor now," he said, "how's that payin?"

"Not much," Tommy said, "That's why I'm here."

"Oh…" Z muttered, "well your with friends now."

Tommy nodded, "hey Kimi, how's Chuckie, haven't seen that guy in forever."

"Yeah, he's good, still an idiot, and he's in his last year of law school.

'How is he an idiot and still in law school."

"Actually that makes sense," Z said, making everyone laugh.

"Hey," someone said walking over, "you guy's are almost up.'

Tommy turned around and saw a broad shouldered man with a high and tight haircut, his brown eyes were lively and mischievous, and he was grinning from ear to ear, "who's this?" the man asked, looking at tommy.

"He's our lead guitarist, Phil Deville, Tommy Pickles."

"Nice to meet you," Phil said, shaking Tommy's hand.

"Same here." Tommy said.

"Alright guy's you ready?" Z asked.

Tommy nodded and picked up his guitar.

"Good luck guy's," Phil said and walked out.

Tommy took a deep breath and walked onto the stage.

* * *

Lil sat with Elizabeth in a booth, Elizabeth was coloring in a bird on the back of the kids menu, "look!" Elizabeth said with glee, showing Lil her colorful bird.

Lil smiled, "that's great!" Lil said, "it's so colorful.'

Elizabeth nodded, "It's a rainbow eagle, after it rains it fly's across the town and makes the rainbows!"

"I never saw it like that." Lil said thoughtfully.

Elizabeth went back to coloring, "are you an angel?" she asked.

Lil looked at her, taken back, "what?" she asked.

"Are you an angel?" she asked again.

"No, I don't think so."

"Well I think you are."

"Why do you think I am?"

"Because angels are nice, and beautiful, Grandma told me that."

Lil looked down at the little girl, who was smiling up at her, Lil gave a small smile, "are you hungry?" she asked.

"No, not yet." She said.

"Good afternoon!" someone said over the mike, Lil looked up, seeing Tommy standing at the mike, "we are the band called Birdsong, and we will be your entertainment today.'

"Daddy!" Elizabeth shouted, standing up on the seat and waving.

Tommy smiled, "hey baby! Are you being good!"

"Yes!" Elizabeth said sitting down as a few people chuckled at her.

Tommy smiled and then nodded to Lil, and then turned to Z, and Z started up the song.

Lil listened to the song, 'I know this song!" she said, "it's called 'we embrace the darkness' I love this song." She started bobbing her head up and down with the beat.

"It sounds pretty." Elizabeth said.

Lil smiled and looked up at Tommy, who stepped up playing the guitar solo.

"Hey Lil!" Phil said walking over, "didn't know you were coming by…who's this?"

"This is Elizabeth Pickles, Tommy Pickles daughter." Lil said.

"Hi!" Elizabeth said happily.

"Hey…why are you sitting here?'

"Because Daddy told me too," she said, like it was obvious.

"But…why aren't you sitting with your mother?"

Elizabeth looked down, "I don't know where mommy is…" she whispered.

Lil glared at Phil, hitting his arm.

"Ow…" he said, rubbing his arm, "hey, do you want some Ice cream."

"D-do you have chocolate?" she asked.

"Yes, that's my specialty." He said, talking in a very fancy voice, "would the lady like a bowl of the finest chocolate ice cream I have?"

Elizabeth giggled and nodded.

Phil walked away and Lil gave him a thumb up.

After a few more Songs, Tommy walked over, his Les Paul slung over his shoulder. "Hey," he said, 'how's it going?"

"Good," Elizabeth said, eating the ice-cream in front of her.

"She's been an angel," Lil said, "she's been nothing but polite."

"Good," Tommy said smiling, "you ready to go home?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said standing up, putting her hand in Tummy's.

"Thanks for watching her Lil," tommy said.

"Any time." She said, 'it was fun."

Tommy nodded, "I'll uh…see you later…" he said and he and Elizabeth left.

"they make an odd pair," Phil said, walking over to Lil, "I mean Elizabeth's in a white dress and looks so innocent and sweet, and then her dad looks like he would kill you."

"that what makes them unique." Lil said, watching tommy walk, _and it's what makes tommy look sad…_

"Earth to Lillian." Phil said, waving his hand in front of her face.

* * *

Tommy sat in his room looking at the necklace's around his neck, one was a chain with a small charms with the initials RA on it, the other was a simple leather strip with a metal circle on it, engraved on it was a number.

_4 years…4 years since I've stopped… _Tommy sighed and let the necklace's fall, bouncing back onto his chest.

"Daddy…"

Tommy looked up and Elizabeth walked in, she was dressed for bed, in the oversized T-shirt that she always wearing when at home, 'what is it baby?"

"What happened to Mommy?"

Tommy felt his blood run cold, "come here.' Tommy said. Elizabeth climbed onto his bed and curled up on his lap, "you're mother...she was beautiful." Tommy said, "she was kind, and smart, and talented, she was the love of my life.'

"Then why did she leave?" Elizabeth asked, tears coming to her eyes, "did she not like me?"

"Baby she loved you…but she had no choice in leaving." Tommy said, "god called her up to be an angel."

"Mommy's an angel?"

"Yes she is, right now she's looking down at you and smiling," tommy said, he took the chain necklace off his neck, "this was hers," he said showing her the necklace, "I gave it to her on our first date."

"Wow…" she whispered, touching it.

Tommy put it over her head and let it lie on his daughter's shoulders, "and now it's yours."

Elizabeth looked at it, "do you mean it?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Cross my heart." Tommy said, holding his hand up.

Elizabeth smiled and hugged her father, 'Thank you daddy!"

Tommy smiled, "of course…anything for you baby."


	5. Chapter 5

Elizabeth was sitting with Dane and Alyssa at Recess, she couldn't play because the principal was making her sit out for the week, but Dane and Alyssa decide that if she couldn't play, then neither would they, "so you guy's want to play eye spy?" Alyssa asked.

"Sure!" Dane said, "I'll go first." He looked around, "I spy with my little eye, something orange."

"Your basketball."

"How'd you know?'

Elizabeth wasn't listening; she was too busy looking at her mother's necklace.

"What's that?" Alyssa asked, looking at the necklace.

"It's my mothers necklace." She said, "my dad gave it to me."

"Wow," Alyssa said, "it's pretty."

"It's cool," Dane said.

"It's mine!" someone shouted, grabbing the chain and yanking it off of Elizabeth's neck.

"Hey!" Elizabeth shouted, standing up.

"Shut up!" the kid shouted, it was the principal's son.

"Give it back!" Elizabeth shouted, "Give it back!"

"No! You owe me something for punching me, so I'm taking your necklace!"

"Please give it back!" she begged.

He pushed her down, 'no! I already told you it's mine!"

Elizabeth started crying, Alyssa hugged her, trying to stop her while Dane stood up against the kid, "what's your problem! Just give her the necklace back!"

"No, she started this, so she has to pay!"

Dane ran to tackle him but he just stepped out of the way and tripped him.

"Hey.' Someone said, making the kid turn around, "what!" he snarled.

Behind him stood a kid with long shaggy hair, he had on old ripped up jean and didn't have any shoes on, the white shirt he wore was slightly baggy and had holes in it, the jeans jacket he wore had holes in the sleeves, he had on knitted gloves that had the finger tips cut off, his eyes were a stormy grey that glared at the boy. "Who are you!"

"Jasper Owens." He said, "and who are you?"

"Chester Greenhorn.' He said.

"Well Chester," Jasper said, "I'm going to give you two options, either you can give her the necklace back, or I can beat the living snot out of you and take it back, what's it going to be."

"Well I'm not giving it back, and I doubt you can beat me up."

Jasper grabbed the front of Chester's shirt and picked him up, "give her back the necklace." He growled.

Chester held his hand out and dropped It in Elizabeth's hand.

"Now say your sorry."

"Oh come on…"

"Say it!" he growled.

Chester sighed, "I'm sorry for stealing your dumb necklace." He grumbled.

'now get out of here!" Jasper said, tossing him to the side.

Chester landed and ran away, towards the teacher.

"Thank you." Elizabeth said softly.

"No prob." He said, he looked down at Dane, 'nice try in taking him down, but I think he was a little too quick."

Dane nodded, Ms. Ramone walked over, 'Ms. Pickles, Mr. Owens, come with me."

Jasper followed the teacher, Elizabeth following with her head down.

"Mr. Greenhorn says that you stole his necklace?"

"What?" Jasper asked angrily, "he stole it from Elizabeth!"

"No I didn't!" Chester shouted, "He's lying Ms. Ramone, that necklace was…it was my aunts! Yeah…and…and she…uh…gave it to me for Christmas!"

Ms. Ramone looked down at Chester, "Chester," she said, "I have had enough of your lying, Elizabeth, Jasper go play, Mr. Green horn here will be sitting out for the week."

Elizabeth and Jasper ran away, with Chester trying to argue with Ms. Ramone.

"Elizabeth!" Alyssa said happily, 'your not in trouble?"

"No, Chester is in trouble for lying, so we get to play!"

Alyssa and Dane cheered, going towards the ball court.

"Thanks for helping us," Elizabeth said to Jasper, "and thanks for getting my necklace back.

"Any time." Jasper said.

"Why don't you have shoes?"

He shrugged, "I can never find a pair." He said, and with that he walked away.

* * *

Tommy watched the choir from his spot on top of the ladder he sat on. He was supposed to be cleaning the windows but right now he didn't' care for it, he listened as the main group of them sang old spirituals, getting ready for some contest coming up, he saw a small group sitting in the back talking, "hmm…" he climbed down from his ladder and walked over to them. "What are you guy's doing?"

The teens looked at him, they were all dressed differently then the rest of the choir, while the rest of them were dressed nicely these six teens were dressed like punks, they all looked like they shopped at Hot Topic, two of them were making out, while the one was leaning against a window, smoking a cigarette. "nothing," one said, "passin' the time."

"Why ain't you working with the rest of the choir?'

"We don't wanna," the same guy said, "it's boring, I joined Band and Choir for music, but the music we play isn't any fun, it's all of that old time crap."

"Yeah," someone else said, tommy looked over at the couple making out, they had broken apart and the girl was talking, "I mean, all they have us sing is that Latin shit, we want to rock!"

Tommy looked at the girl, "well then, ordinary choir isn't going to get you where you want to go."

"Yeah we figured that out at the beginning, now we're just showing up to get a grade."

Tommy looked at them all, "hold on." He said, and then walked over to the rest, "Ms. Deville, can I talk to you?"

"Sure!" Lil said walking over,

"Hey is it alright if I take those six kids over there and turn them into a band?"

"Why?"

"They said they want to rock, and I thought, you know, how about I show them?"

"Well, it would really boost they're grade up, considering that they don't really work in here…sure!"

Tommy smirked and walked back to the teens, "so you guy's want to rock?"

"Yeah!" they all said, except for the guy who was smoking, who put his cigarette out and looked at Tommy, nodding.

"Alright," he wrote something down on a piece of paper, "come to this address tomorrow morning, and I'll get you started." With that, tommy turned and walked back to his ladder.

After class, Lil walked over to Tommy, "so what's your plan for them?" Lil asked.

"Well, they want to rock, and i have band experience, how about I form them into a band."

Lil nodded slowly, "that could work, they're all pretty good musicians, but they lack determination."

"I bet I'll find the determination they lack." Tommy said, sliding down the ladder, "so how's the main choir doing?"

"Oh we'll be going to competition next week, so they've been working hard, I'm sure we'll make it."

Tommy nodded, "you know…Elizabeth has been wanting to see you again… and…um… you know…we're having a cook out Sunday… so… If you want to go…"

Elizabeth smiled, "sure I would love to go see Elizabeth, and that cook out sounds like fun."

Tommy smiled, "it's at a house a few blocks from here, If you'll meet me at my house we can go over together."

"Sure." Lil said, 'now I have to go, I gotta meet my brother at his restaurant, but you have a good day Tommy!"

Tommy watched her leave with a smile on his face; _things are starting to look better._

* * *

Ms. Ramone stomped out of the elementary school, "stupid, bratty, no good son of a…"

"Whoa! Wally, that's no way to talk around a school." Lil said walking over, "what's up?"

"Stupid Mr. Greenhorn, he was threatening to fire me because I got his kid in trouble today."

"Really?" she asked, "that's just horrible, what did his kid do?'

"He had tried to steal one of my students' necklace's then he tried to lie and say that she stole it from him, so I sat him out for the rest of the week, but when his dad found out, he called me in and said that I had no right to do that with so little 'evidence' this is kindergarten not the stupid high school!"

"So he threatened to fire you?"

"Yeah," she said, "he said if I do it again, that I'm gone, and his son was there the entire time just smirking at me, I wish I can wipe the smirk off his little face."

'I think you should report him," Lil said, 'he can't get away with threatening you for no reason."

"I doubt the school board will listen to me."

Lil sighed, "I can't believe he's going to get away with this."

Wally shook her head, "lets just stop talking about it, how about you? How's your janitor friend doing?"

"He's doing real great, he's volunteering to help those six students I was telling you about, the six that don't do anything."

"Wow, that's great! I really need to meet him."

"I think you have, his daughter is in your class.'

"Really?" she asked, "which one? Little Alyssa Frazier?"

"No,"

"Ginger Apodaca?"

"No, her name is Elizabeth Pickles."

She stopped and looked at Lil, "are you serious?" she asked, "the janitor your talking about is the guy covered in tattoo's?"

"He is not covered in them! Just on his arms."

"And how do you know he is not 'covered' in them?"

"What are you insinuating?"

"Oh come on, I know your attracted to sketchy men."

"He is not sketchy!" she said, turning red, "and I'm not attracted to him!"

"Yeah sure," she said, 'what about that text you sent me about going to a cook out with him."

"It's just because his daughter wants to see me." She said.

"Oh yeah sure," Wally said sarcastically.

Lil let out a frustrated sigh, "I'm leaving, I'll see you at Phil's Restaurant."

"Alright, See you! Have fun with Tats!"

"Who?"

"Tattoo guy, I'm calling him Tats."

Lil rolled her eyes and walked away. "he does not like me like that." She said, though she had a small smile.


	6. Chapter 6

Tommy sat in his living room watching TV, he had finally paid his electric bill and had power, for who know's how long.

"Daddy," Elizabeth said walking in, "can I invite a friend over tomorrow?"

"Who is it?" Tommy asked.

"His name is Jasper."

Tommy thought about it, "alright, but he's not staying over."

"Thank you daddy!" she said excitedly, running back into her room.

Tommy smiled little and went back to watching TV, _she's never mentioned this Jasper kid before… _he thought, _wonder who he is._

A knock on the door made tommy stand up and walk over to the door, he looked out and saw the kids from Choir, he opened the door, "you guy's came." He said, 'I'm a little surprised."

"Hey man, you said you were going to help us rock, so we goin' to see what's up."

Tommy nodded, "any of you bring instruments?" Tommy asked

A few nodded, the smoking one took the cigarette out of his mouth, "I couldn't bring my drums." He said.

"I'll set some pots and pans up for you." Tommy said, "Come on in."

They walked in and looked around his small house, "this place is small." The girl with black hair and piercings in her mouth, nose and ears said, looking around.

"I make less then minimum wage." Tommy said, "it's not like I'm going to be able to buy a mansion."

"True, true…"

Tommy sat down on his couch, "now, what's your names?"

"I'm Emma," the punk girl said, "I play base guitar."

"Jessie, I play Guitar."

The smoker looked at Tommy, "Andre, I play drums."

One of them looked at him shakily, "I'm…I'm…I'm…."

"He's Greg, but we call him Twitch."

"I can see why." tommy muttered.

"He can play guitar." Twitch nodded, looking away.

"I'm Diane!" the red haired girl said happily, "I play violin."

"George." The last one said, "I can work a sound board, and a keyboard."

"Well looks like you guy's could make a good band." He said, 'I'm Tommy pickles, Lead Guitarist of birdsong."

"No way!" Emma said astonished.

"Your with Birdsong? Man I doubt that!" Andre said.

"You-you-you d-d-d-don't s-s-s-s-seem l-l-like a guitarist." Twitch stuttered.

"Well I am," Tommy said, "Now, I have to ask before we start, are you serious about starting up a band?"

"Wait…your going to help us start a band?" Emma asked.

"I'll try."

"Fuck yes!" Emma shouted.

"Hey!" tommy hissed, "keep your voice down!"

"Why?"

"Daddy," Elizabeth said walking out of her room.

"Hey Baby." Tommy said, "are you hungry?'

'No, I just heard someone swear."

"Uh…that was me." Emma said, looking down at the little girl stunned.

"Oh." Elizabeth said, then walked into the kitchen, she rummaged through a cabinet and pulled out a jar full of cash, she walked over to her, "you need to put a dollar in the swear jar."

Emma pulled out a dollar and put it in.

Elizabeth smiled and put the jar back, "don't cuss again!" she said and ran back to her room.

Tommy smiled, "she got fifty dollars out of me last super bowl."

"She's so cute!" Diane exclaimed.

"And she's good at swindling people, a dollar for a swear word, when I was little it was a quarter for a Fu…freaking cuss word." Emma said, catching herself at the last second.

Tommy nodded, 'she got the swindling from me."

Emma sighed and sat down, "aiight, what's the first thing we need to do to become a band?"

"We gotta get a gig," Andre said.

"Yeah! And we got to have matching outfits, and fireworks."

"Don't forget we gotta get some bitches!" George said, earning him a slap from both Emma and Diane.

"Who else cussed?" Elizabeth asked walking out.

"No one baby, it was the TV."

"Oh okay."

"Now," Tommy said, "your all wrong, first thing you need to do is actually get a band name, start practicing songs, maybe even write a few yourself, start promoting yourself, do talent shows, football games, that kind of stuff."

"But that's boring!"

"Everything has boring parts in it." Tommy said, "Just gotta get through it."

They nodded, ""but…we don't have any good band names, I mean we can probably make one up later, but it's going to be even harder to promote ourselves!" Andre shouted.

"Actually a talent show is coming up in two weeks." Emma said, 'we could be ready for that.'

"Yeah!" Diane said, "We could all go and rock! And wear matching outfits"

"You are way to peppy." Emma muttered.

Andre sighed, 'look guy's, I'm sure we could do this, but lets be realistic, ain't no one going to want to hear the outcasts, singing' some stupid song that they hate."

Tommy looked at them all, they really were the outcasts, Jessie and Emma were about the same, long shaggy hair, baggy and dark clothes, and piercings, Andre looked like the typical wanna be gang member, white muscle shirt, doo-rag, ripped up jeans, boots and a cigarette in his mouth, Twitch would've looked like an ordinary kid if he wasn't twitching and stuttering, George just looked like he didn't even care, and Diane was really bubbly and exited, when Andre had pointed out that they were outcasts, they all looked down.

"You talkin' down on outcasts?" Tommy asked, "me and my band were outcasts, the people in the back ground that no one really paid attention to, the group that were labeled failures because we weren't like anyone else, but when we got together, we made something amazing."

Emma lifted her head up, "he's right!" she said, "when have we ever given a fuck about what people think about us? We've done shit before, and this will help us get to the motha fuckin' top! I say lets do it! Who else is with me?"

Everyone jumped up and cheered, except for Andre who just looked out the window.

"Then lets do this shit!" Emma shouted, she felt a tug on her shirt and she turned around, Elizabeth was behind her with the swear jar.

"You owe four dollars." Elizabeth said, Emma grumbled and pulled out a five, 'if I put the five in can I get my other dollar back?" she asked.

Elizabeth took the five-dollar bill and put it in the jar, "nope." She said, walking away.

"That's my girl." Tommy said with a smirk.

* * *

Lil knocked on Tommy's door; she straightened out her V-neck shirt nervously, looking around as she did it.

"Lil!" Elizabeth shouted gleefully opening the door, "you look real pretty."

"Thanks." Lil said with a small smile.

"Daddy's in the shower right now, but you can come in and sit down." Elizabeth said, walking inside, Lil followed and looked around, the place was a little messy, a few papers were strewn around with words written all over them, most were crossed out, there was a list pinned up on the wall that said 'possible gigs' and had different events written on them, one was the talent show. "Hmm…" Lil said, she looked around again and her eyes landed on a little boy sitting on the couch, "oh hello." She said.

"Sup." He said.

"Who are you?"

"Jasper.'

'He's my friend from school!" Elizabeth said happily, 'I invited him to the cook out."

"Nice to meet you jasper." Lil said with a smile.

"Elizabeth! Are you almost ready?" tommy shouted into the living room, he walked past the trio holding a towel around his waist, he walked into the kitchen and looked into the fridge, he pulled out a trey covered in foil and put it on the table, he turned and saw Lil and Jasper looking at him, "Holy hell!" Tommy shouted jumping back, "um…Elizabeth, when did they get here?"

"Just a little while ago."

Lil looked at Tommy's partially naked form, looking at his muscles, "wow…' she murmured.

"Um…Lil…could you please stop staring?"

"Huh? Oh! I wasn't staring!" she lied, looking away and blushing.

Jasper stood up, "yeah you were!" he said, "I saw you."

"Man you just got ratted out." Tommy said.

"Why don't you go put on some clothes!" Lil said.

"Oh yeah right!" Tommy said, quickly running into his room and closing the door, he came out a little while later, a clean shirt and pants on, putting on a leather jacket. "So, why did you barge into my house?"

"I didn't barge in, your daughter let me in."

"What about you?" he asked Jasper.

"I showed up a few minutes before her." Jasper said.

Tommy nodded, "well then lets go!"

They al walked out and started walking down the street. "So Tommy," Lil said, "what's this Barbeque for?"

"Eh, my brother called me a few days ago and told me that we were going to have a cook out today, I don't know what for, but it's Important."

Lil nodded, "how was it with those kids?"

"Pretty good, they're planning on doing the talent show as a band."

"That's great!" Lil said. "Do they have what it takes?"

"Yep," Tommy said, 'I know they do, they just need a good band name."

"How about Fairy Tail!" Elizabeth said excitedly.

"Maybe," Tommy said, "where'd you hear that name?"

'On a TV show aunt Kimi was watching."

Tommy sighed, _I'm gonna have to talk to Kimi about that…_

Lil smiled a little, "so where's the cook out?'

"At my mother's house." Tommy said, "It's like a meeting place for our family."

Lil nodded, 'oh hey, this is the street my mother lives on."

"Really?" Tommy asked, "I never knew you used to live so close."

"I know, it's weird we never met."

Tommy nodded, then walked up to his old home and opened the door, 'Ma! I'm home!"

"Tommy! It's about time!" someone shouted, jumping onto him, "thought you'd never get here!"

"Dil get off!" Tommy shouted, pushing him off, making him slam into the couch.

"Damn, harsh bro." Dil said, jumping up,

Lil looked at Dil, the young man was completely different than his brother, his long orange hair was straight and well kept, his white shirt was tucked in and his leather vest was unbuttoned, his jeans looked almost brand new and his converse sneakers were barely even worn, "hey Tommy, who's the hot chick in the sexy purple V-neck?"

Lil turned red, "I-I'm Lil Deville." She said.

"T…is she your Girlfriend?"

It was Tommy's turn to turn red, "well uh…she's…uh…a friend"

"Yeah, I'm a friend, nothing else!"

"I can tell your both lying." Dil said.

"Dilly!" a guy said, his deep voice booming through the house. "Are you tormenting your big brother again?"

"No Tristan!"

Another guy walked in, this ones hair was short and he had a scratchy beard on his face, he wore a muscle shirt and a pair of shorts, "honestly, you need to stop messing with people." Tristan said, walking over to Dil.

"Sorry Babe." Dil said, scratching his head.

Tristan smirked, "he's so cute, isn't he?" he asked, kissing Dil on the forehead.

"Um…" Lil muttered, shifting a little.

"Didn't I tell you that my brother was gay?" Tommy asked.

"No you never said that."

"Well…he's gay."

"I prefer eccentric.' Dil said with a grin.

Tristan gave a booming laugh, "oh Tommy, everyone's in the back."

Thanks Tristan." He said, walking to the back, Lil followed.

"Hey Uncle Dil!" Elizabeth said, 'can I play with your air gun?"

"Sure sweetie!"

Tommy walked into the back yard and looked around, Kimi, Z, and Didi were sitting at a table, talking and laughing, Angelica was talking to someone at the grill, "hey guy's, Hey Chuckie, long time no see."

The guy at the grill looked up, his hair was the same orange as Dil's only his was slicked back, and he had freckles splashed across his face, "Hey Tommy," he said, "how's work?"

"Eh, it's alright, not as bad as everyone says." Tommy said, "Oh, this is my friend Lil Deville."

Lil waved at them, "hi, it's nice to meet all of you."

"Hey!" Kimi said waving, "I'm Kimi, this is Z, and Didi, Angelica and Chuckie."

"It's good to meet you all."

"Lil Deville." Z said, lighting a cigarette, "I remember Tommy talkin' about you, gotta admit, you're pretty hot."

Lil blushed, "uh…thanks?"

Z smirked, 'if you want, we could meet up stairs and…" he stopped as Kimi slapped him, sending him falling off the porch, "Damn!" Z muttered standing up, "couldn't take a joke? Come on Lil, you knew it was a joke right?" he groaned as Lil walked over to him.

"Yeah, nothing but a joke." Lil said, then punched him in the stomach.

"I like her already." Angelica said.

* * *

Lil laughed beside Tommy, they were all having a good time, eating, telling jokes, and listening to stories Tommy and Z told about their college experience.

"Aiight," Z said, "so me and Tommy were at this bar one night, and there's a military brat there, I mean this guy was in his Cammies just bein' a douche, even his buddies were telling him to shut the hell up, but he didn't listen, he came over to me and Tommy and said, 'look at these two punks! Lookin' like they can't even finish a two mile run!' well I took offense to that, so I turned to him and said, "listen, I may not be able to run that far, but at least I'm not gettin' my ass pounded by the Drill Instructor every night."

"What did he do?" Lil asked.

"Well he didn't take too kindly to that, he stood up and said, 'I ain't no queer! I got a wife!' and he showed me a picture of her, I told him 'I'd rather have the Drill Instructor."

They busted out laughing, "The dumbass got punched after that." Tommy said, "started a bar fight."

"I was there!" Kimi said, "You A-holes got me arrested that night."

"Not our fault, you were probably drunk."

"True, but the cops didn't show up until you started that damn fight!"

They all laughed again, Tommy stood up and walked towards the house, 'I'm going to get a drink,' Tommy said,

"Could you grab me one!" Lil asked.

"No prob!" he responded, walking into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, getting two Coors lights, before he went out he peeked inside the living room and saw Elizabeth and Jasper asleep, both were cuddled up against each other, a half finished coloring page in front of them, Tommy smirked a little and walked outside, "hey guy's, after this drink I gotta go, Elizabeth is past out in there."

"You can spend the night Tommy," Didi said, "I don't mind."

"Well she has school tomorrow and I got work, so I'd rather us be at home, sorry ma."

"Well if you're about to Leave Tommy." Tristan said getting out of his chair, 'me and Dil might as well reveal our announcement."

"What is it?" Z asked.

"Me and Tristan are getting hitched." Dil said with a smile.

Tommy's eyes widened, 'that's…awesome!" he said.

"Congratulations!" Z shouted, "shots all around!"

"No shots," Kimi muttered, 'But it is good that you two are getting married, I mean you've known each other since high school."

"Congratulations sweetie." Didi said, "I hope you two are very happy."

"Isn't Gay marriage Illegal here?" Angelica asked.

"Angelica!" Chuckie exclaimed, "don't be so insensitive."

"It is legal here." Dil said, 'I checked.

"Well congratulations," Angelica said, "I'm very happy for you two."

Chuckie looked down a little, he had wanted to propose to Angelica, but he could never gather up the courage, this was like a slap in the face to him.

"Well I better get going." Tommy said, throwing his beer bottle away and walked inside.

"I better go too." Lil said, "It was nice meeting you all."

As they went inside, Z turned to Kimi and whispered, "do you think they're gonna do it?"

"Oh yeah." Kimi whispered back.

Tommy walked down the street, Elizabeth's sleeping form was in his arms, his jacket was slung over his shoulder, Lil was walking beside him, and Jasper had walked home, "so, tonight was fun." Lil said.

"Oh yeah, sorry my brother sorta caught you off guard when we got there."

"Yeah, that was a pretty big surprise." Lil said, "and to think, he thought me and you were going out."

Tommy chuckled a little, 'it does seem kinda far fetched." He said, "I mean we just met."

'And we're completely different."

'completely." Tommy said.

Lil looked tommy and smiled a little, when he turned her way she looked down, a blush creeping up on her.

"Lil Deville, are you blushing?" Tommy asked.

"No I'm not," she said, turning even redder, "It's just cold out here!" she rubbed her arms, it really was cold and she forgot a jacket.

Tommy took his off his shoulder, 'here," he said putting it around her, 'Is that better?"

"Y-yeah…" Lil said, blushing a little more.

"Daddy…" Elizabeth muttered sleepily.

"Yeah baby?"

"Tomorrow morning can we have pancakes?"

Tommy smiled a little, "yeah baby,"

"With chocolate chips?"

"You ate all the chocolate chips last time," Tommy said, poking her in the stomach, "Fatty."

Elizabeth giggled, then looked at Lil, 'are you going to stay the night?"

Both Lil and Tommy looked surprised, "um…no, I have to get to work early tomorrow." Lil said hesitantly.

"Oh, because I thought it would be fun, me and you could have stayed up all night and played games." Elizabeth said.

"You can't play all-night, you have school tomorrow." Tommy said.

"That's true." Elizabeth said, making Lil laugh a little. Soon they got to Tommy's house, they walked in, Tommy went to Elizabeth's room and laid Elizabeth in her bed, Elizabeth quickly went to sleep.

"She really is beautiful." Lil said, "so carefree and happy."

"Yeah," tommy said with a smile, "she brightens up everyone's day."

Lil nodded, "well I better go, got school tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow Lil." He said, walking her to the door, "you know," he said as she walked out, "that sleepover invitation is open."

Lil smiled a little, "sorry, I gotta get going, maybe another time."

Tommy smirked, 'invitations always open Lil," he said, 'goodnight."

Lil walked to her car and waved at him, then got into her car and drove away.

Tommy smirked and walked into his house, locking the door behind him, "Today was a good day.' He said.


	7. Chapter 7

**1 month later**

Tommy mopped the floors in the cafeteria; he had his Sweater tied around his waist as he mopped, wiping his forehead of sweat, "damn it's hot!" he muttered. Walking out of the cafeteria, as he walked many of the high school girls were eyeing him coyly, looking at his muscles, Tommy kept walking, going to the janitors closet, he started putting the stuff up while looking at his watch, "a couple more hours…" he muttered, "Then I can go pick up Elizabeth."

"Knock knock," someone said, making Tommy turned around, a teacher stood in front of him, he had a shaved head, and wore a white shirt that clung to his muscular frame, and a pare of basketball shorts, "haven't seen you in a while dead-beat."

"Do I know you?" tommy asked.

"Yeah, I'm Sean Butler, that name ring any bells?"

Tommy went back to his high school days, to the jocks that always bullied him, "you…" he growled.

"Yeah me, and I've come with a message," he said, "stay away from Lil Deville, she's mine."

"I doubt that," tommy grumbled.

"I see you with her again I'm going to pound your face in!"

Tommy pushed him out of the janitors' closet, making him stumble and fall into the empty hall, "you threaten me again then I'll kill you." Tommy said, "I'm not the scrawny little kid that you can push around like in high school." Tommy turned and closed the door; locking it, "see ya round jackass." He said, walking down the hall towards the choir room, he saw Lil by herself hanging up Halloween decorations, he walked up behind her, "BOO!" he shouted, making Lil jump an fall off the Latter, he caught her before she hit the floor.

"Jerk," she said, playfully swatting his arm.

Tommy laughed, "I do this at the same time every day, and yet you haven't caught on.' He said, setting her on her feet, but kept his arms around her.

'I don't pay attention to the time!" she said, 'I'm usually off in some other world."

"That's apparent."

Lil swatted him again and started to walk to the latter, only to be stopped by Tommy's arms, "I'm not falling anymore Tats," she said, "you can let go now."

"I know," he said, "but why should I let a girl like you go?"

Lil blushed, "T-the kids will be here soon." She muttered.

"Your really pulling that card?" he asked, "alright then," he let go of her, "you need any help with the decorations?"

"Y-yeah…" Lil muttered, going back up on the latter.

Tommy helped Lil put the rest of the Decorations up, teasing and messing with her when he could.

"Sheesh, you weren't this bad a month ago tats." Lil said.

"Why do you call me tats? Where did that come from?"

"It's short for Tattoo's, cause you have so many of them, Ms. Ramone came up with it."

"Well it's kind of annoying."

"Oh and messing with me like you do isn't?"

"That's different."

'Oh don't feed me that bull."

"It is!"

"No it's annoying, and confusing! And it makes me flustered!"

They went on like this for another fifteen minutes, going back and forth, as they went the distance between them got closer and closer.

"I don't understand why I have to be called Tats!"

"I don't understand why you have to act the way you do!"

'How do I act?"

"Immature, uncivilized, and annoying!"

'Oh really!"

"Yeah!"

"Well…you…well…" tommy stumbled over the words, turning a little red, "You're…you…you…'

Lil watched him, suddenly realizing how close they were.

Tommy looked down at her, "you're…you're cute…and it really distracts me from being mature…"

Lil looked up into his face, "Tommy…" she started.

"And…I can't really control my actions when your around…and…"

"Shut up," Lil said, leaning forward and kissing him.

Tommy looked surprised for a second but deepened the Kiss, closing his eyes.

The ringing bell made them break the kiss and look around, "Um…the kids will be here soon…" Lil said, stepping away from tommy.

"Yeah…"

"So…I'll see you after?"

"Y-yeah…"

the students started walking in, "Yo Mr.P!" Andre shouted, "what we doin' today!"

"Huh? Oh right, we're gonna run through the songs you guy's want to sing for the talent show."

Lil watched tommy for a little while, a small smile on her face.

* * *

Tommy watched his six students leave, "man," he said when they were out of sight, 'they kinda suck,"

"What?" Lil asked walking over.

"I mean, they want to sing the new songs, the ones by that one gay kid and the whore."

"Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus?"

"Yeah, they think it's gonna make people like them, but I don't think that's going to help."

"Yeah," lil said, "how about you have them sing some songs that you and your band sang? I know you guy's played things like the Motley Crue, Iron maiden."

"Doubt they'd do it." He said.

Lil shrugged, "You never know…"

Tommy nodded and the two looked at each other, both standing in an awkward silence.'

"So, I'll see you tomorrow.' Lil said quickly, picking up her bags and leaving.

"Uh…yeah! See ya tomorrow," Tommy said, going out a different door, Emma was there waiting for him with a smug grin, "what?" Tommy asked.

"I saw you and Ms. Deville," she said in a singsong voice.

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about…"

"I saw you and her before the school bell rang." She said, "From the little shouting match you two had to that little kiss."

Tommy turned red.

Emma laughed, "Oh man I knew something was going on between you two!"

"N-nothing's going on between us!"

"Yes there is! Why else would you kiss her!"

"That…that was from the heat of the moment…I…I didn't know…"

"I doubt that," Emma said, walking away, "oh forgot to ask, how'd it feel to kiss her?'

"It was ama…shut up!"

Emma laughed and ran out the door.

* * *

Tommy and Elizabeth walked back to their house, "how was your day?" Tommy asked.

"It was good," Elizabeth said, "Ms. Ramone said we could wear our Halloween costumes tomorrow."

"And what are you going as?" Tommy asked.

"It's a secret," she said with a giggle, "Aunt Kimi is coming to help me with it."

"And you won't tell me?"

"Nope!"

Tommy sighed, "fine," he said, "I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning."

"Are we going to go trick or treating tomorrow?" she asked excitedly.

Tommy smiled, "well I don't know…I got a lot to do tomorrow…"

Elizabeth looked down.

"Of course we're going!" Tommy said laughing, "it's my time to get candy too you know!"

"Yay!" Elizabeth shouted gleefully, running up the steps to the house.

Tommy smiled and walked inside, "you hungry?"

"Yeah.'

"What do you want?"

"Mac and Cheese!"

"Anything else?"

"Um…chicken strips!"

Tommy smiled and started getting everything out, he heard the door open and close, he stopped what he was doing and slowly edged his way to the entrance t the kitchen, he jumped out and grabbed whoever had walked in and brought them down to the floor.

"Hey!" Lil shouted, glaring at Tommy.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone breaking in."

"Why'd you think that?"

'The door opened and closed and no one announced themselves, so naturally I thought someone was breaking in."

'Don't have to break in when you leave the door unlocked." Lil muttered, "Now can you get off me?"

"Oh, yeah right." Tommy said, getting off Lil and helping her stand, "so what are you doing here?"

"We need to talk about that kiss."

"Uh…what?"

"Don't mess around Tommy," she said, "you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah I know…but I didn't think that you wanted to talk about it."

"Yes I want to talk about it, I mean…what does this mean now?"

"I don't know…"

"Are we still friends? Are we more than friends… god I'm so confused right now!"

"How do you think I feel?"

Lil sighed and sat down, "I just…I mean we've only known each other for a month, and…god it's so confusing."

Tommy nodded and sat down next to her, "it's not like we did it or anything." Tommy said, "it was just a kiss, right?"

"Yeah…it was just a kiss…"

"Yeah, so lets just forget it for now, alright?"

"I guess…"

"Great, so you wanna stay for dinner?"

"You know what? Sure."

Tommy stood up and started making the food; with Lil's help they got it done quickly.

Elizabeth walked out of her room, "Lil!" she shouted Gleefully, running over to her.

"Hey Elizabeth!" she said, hugging the little girl, 'long time no see."

"We saw each other yesterday!"

Lil smiled, 'that's right, I guess I forgot."

"Are you going to stay the night?"

"Oh no, I got work tomorrow."

"Oh, okay." Elizabeth said.

"Go ahead and sit down Liz," Tommy said, "I'll bring you your food.

"Okay!"

They all sat at the table and ate the food, talking and laughing, afterwards they all sat down and watched TV.

Tommy looked over at his daughter and realized she had fallen asleep, "Lil," he said softly, "she's sleeping." He walked over to his daughter and picked her up softly, 'I'm going to go put her down."

"I'll come with you," Lil whispered, the two walked into Elizabeth's room, tommy laid her daughter down and pulled the covers over her, "goodnight baby." He whispered softly, kissing her forehead.

Lil smiled at him, "you really are a good father," she whispered to him.

"thanks." He said, walking out the room, Lil got out and Tommy closed the door.

"So now what?" Lil asked.

"you wanna watch a movie?"

"Not really." She said.

"Hmm…" Tommy muttered, then looked at Lil, he had the sudden urge to kiss her, _don't do it, _a small voice in the back of his head said, _it's going to bite you in the ass later. _

_Go ahead, do it, _a voice in his chest said, _come on! You know you wanna, I know she wants ta, just do it._

_It's a bad idea, _the voice in his head said, but it was being drowned out by the other voice.

_To hell with it, _Tommy thought, leaning in quickly and kissing Lil.

Lil's eyes widened a little, then slowly closed, leaning into his kiss, Tommy put his arms around her as he kissed her, they slowly started backing up into Tommy's room, falling onto his bed.

_This was a great Idea! _The heart Roared.

_This will comeback to haunt you… _his brain said.


	8. Chapter 8

Tommy woke up in a daze, his eyes not open at all, _man, I just had the greatest dream that me and Lil spent the entire night…" _his thought was interrupted by someone shifting their weight beside him, he opened his eyes and saw Lil lying next to him, curled up against his chest, he himself had his arms around her naked body, he looked at the clock and saw that it was only midnight, "so, that wasn't a dream," he muttered, then smiled,

Lil stirred beside him, "huh…" she muttered, yawning, "boy was I having a good dream." She whispered, "I was dreaming I was sleeping with Tommy…" she suddenly realized where she was. "Oh…my…god…" she sat up, she put her hand to her head, "oh god," she said, "I…I really don't know if this is bad or good.'

Tommy raised his eyebrow.

"I mean…okay the truth is I've been wanting to do this for a while, but…"

"But your wondering if you should have done this?'

"Yeah…"

"I thought the same, but then I thought 'you know what, life's too short to worry about that.'"

"Well that is true." Lil said, lying down again, scooting closer to Tommy to warm her body up, tommy wrapped his arms around her, "but how will we explain my being here to Elizabeth in the morning?" she asked.

"We can say that you were having a sleepover, or tell her you came early.'

"Maybe…"

"How about let's worry about it in the morning," Tommy said, "lets catch some sleep while we can."

Lil nodded, lying her head down and closing her eyes, she smiled a little as she went to sleep.

Tommy let out a small sigh of content; _I wish this night would never end._

* * *

Andre sat with Twitch, Jessie, Emma, Diane, and George, he looked at them as he puffed on the cigarette, George flicking a lighter on and on, every now and then leaving it on and watching the flames, Twitch was sitting next to Diane, shifting a little every now and then, his hand twitching, Emma and Jessie were doing what they do best, making out, "man don't you two ever come up to breath!" André asked them.

"Don't you ever stop smoking?" Jessie asked.

Andre rolled his eyes, "I'm just sayin' man, you two go at it like every minute, if the rest of us weren't here you'd probably be makin' babies."

"Shut up Andre," George said, "damn, why you gotta be so negative."

"It's they way I am," Andre said, "Why you gotta burn shit down?"

'Because it's fuckin' fun."

"Guy's calm down," Diane said, "we're band mates, we shouldn't be fighting.

"Pfft, band mates, isn't the cowgirl so optimistic." Andre grumbled.

"Well aren't we?" she asked.

"We not a band," Andre said, jumping off of the tire he was sitting on, "we're wannabe's that suck! I mean come on, look me straight in the eyes and say that the songs were playing today were soundin' good."

Diane looked down.

"Exactly, a band sounds good, we not a band, we just a bunch of people playing in the wrong key.'

'We're playing the wrong music." Twitch said, making everyone look at him in shock.

"Did…did twitch just talk without stuttering?" Emma asked amazed.

"Damn what else can you do twitch?" Jessie asked him.

"I only stutter when I'm nervous." He said, "and when I'm alone with you guy's…I'm not nervous."

"Then how come you always stutterin' when you talkin' to us?"

Twitch turned red, 'n-no reason." He muttered, "but like I was sayin', we're not playing the right music, we're playing the music we think the others want to hear, our hearts aren't in it."

"Well isn't that we're doing this? To get people to like us?"

"I don't care about that." Twitch said, "I don't care if people like us, I just want to play good music."

"Same here." Diane said, "I've just been following you guy's, to be completely honest, I hate the music we've been playin'."

"Same," Emma, Jessie, and George said together.

"So what we gon' do about it? The talent show is a week from now, there's no way we can learn new songs in that short amount of time, we don't even have a name yet!"

"I got an idea for a name." Diane said excitedly.

"And I got an idea for the songs," Twitch said, "I think we know all of them."

"Twitch you're awesome!" Diane exclaimed, hugging twitch.

"N-n-n-n-no p-p-p-p-problem d-d-d-d-d-Diane…" Twitch said, turning red again.

"Uh oh, Diane broke him."

* * *

Tommy walked out of his room putting a wifebeater on, Lil had left an hour before he had woken up, "Elizabeth! Are you almost ready!"

"Almost!" Elizabeth shouted back.

"Yeah, it takes time to put this costume together!" Kimi's voice shouted.

"Probably let herself in again." Tommy muttered, "alright! We're leaving in ten minutes.'

"More then enough time!" Kimi shouted cheerfully.

Tommy walked into the kitchen and pulled out a coke from the fridge, taking a drink, he leant against the counter and sighed, smiling, 'good night." He muttered, "It was a good night."

Kimi walked out, "Elizabeth's getting her back-pack." Kimi said, and then noticed how happy Tommy was, "looks like someone got laid." She whispered to him.

"Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about." Tommy said, taking a drink.

"Oh shut up tommy, I was on tour with you for two years, it's easy to tell when you were gettin' some."

"No it wasn't!"

"Tommy your ears turn pink, you have a stupid grin on your face, and you put your shirt on backwards."

Tommy looked down and realized his shirt was on backwards, he put it the right way, 'that proves nothing."

Kimi shrugged, "I'm just sayin'." She said, walking out.

Elizabeth ran out "daddy!" she said.

Tommy turned to her and almost spat his coke out, his daughter was wearing a small wifebeater and old worn pants, she had on the boots he had bought her for her birthday and a that kept her long hair out of her eyes, on her arms she had what looked like marker tattoos, one arm was just like his tribal, while the other was just different tattoos, not like his, but a lot happier, and one odd little symbol on her shoulder, "so, what's your costume?" tommy asked her as she grabbed her jacket.

"I'm you!" Elizabeth said happily, "our teacher said the best Halloween costume is to dress like our hero."

Tommy smiled at that, _I'm a hero to her… _he thought happily, "well I think it's a great costume, though your teacher might not like it."

"Why not?" she said, her smile

"People are like that."

"Oh…well I don't care." She said smiling again.

Tommy smiled, "hold up real quick." He said, pulling out the small phone that he had gotten a few days ago, he took a picture of his daughter and put the phone up, "Come on, lets get going." He picked her up and walked out of the house.

Elizabeth looked at her father, "so we're trick or treatin' tonight right?"

'Yep, and we'll hit all the good houses," he said, "Come home with a big bag of candy."

"Yay!"

He walked her into school and took her to class; he wanted to see the look on Ms. Ramones's face when she saw his daughter.

"Ms. Ramone! I'm here!" Elizabeth said happily running into the classroom.

"Hey Eliza…what are you wearing?" she asked quickly, looking from her to her dad and back, a camera flash made her look up, Tommy was laughing.

'I just had to see your face," he said.

"I'm my dad!" Elizabeth said, "You said dress like my hero."

"Uh…but…I meant like superman, or wonderwoman."

"Who are they?"

Ms. Ramone turned red, 'Never mind, go play with the other kids." She said kindly, Elizabeth ran over to the other kids, Tommy was still laughing a little, "I'm glad you find this funny Mr. Pickles." Ms. Ramone whispered fiercely at him, "what possessed you to dress her up like that!"

"I didn't dress her up like that, she did it herself, even the tattoo's, I think she got the tribal down just right." He said, looking down at his left arm.

Ms. Ramone held her head, "well to be honest it is a pretty good costume." She said.

Tommy nodded.

"But why did you walk in here today?"

"Because I knew the face you were going to make when you saw her would be priceless." He said with a grin.

* * *

Tommy walked into the choir room, it was five minutes to the bell and he wasn't too siked about seeing the small band that he was trying to help.

"Hey Tommy." Lil said, walking over to him with a smile.

"How's it going Lil?" he asked, walking over to her.

"Pretty good." She said, twirling a piece of her hair with her finger, "I had a good time last night…"

"I'm glad you did." He said with a smirk, 'too be honest it was a great evening." He said, putting an arm around her waist, "wanna do it again sometime?"

"Do what again?" someone asked, Tommy turned and saw Emma leaning against the wall, dressed as a witch for Halloween.

"Um…you know…" Lil said, turning red, "we were…um…"

"You guy's did it didn't you?"

"What?" they both said stunned, "no! We wouldn't…how could you…" they both said at the same time.

Emma laughed, "yep knew it, matching each other word for word!" Emma said, "sure sign that you two are doing it."

"Don't tell anyone." Tommy and lil said.

"Don't worry, we won't tell." Emma said.

"We? What do you mean we?"

She held up her phone and they heard laughing, 'I was on the phone with the gang when I came in here."

Tommy and Lil groaned.

"Hey don't worry Teach! We won't tell anyone!" Andre shouted.

"Y-y-y-y-yeah." Twitch stuttered.

"Way to go Mr. P! Get some!" George shouted.

Tommy shook his head, "why are you even here Emma? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I have a free period right now, so do the rest."

"You could be using this time to practice."

"We do," she said with a smirk, "at the talent show we are going to blow your mind." And with that she walked out.

"Wow," Tommy said, "They didn't sound this confident yesterday."

"Maybe they found that motivation you were trying to give them." She said.

"Maybe," he said as the bell rang. "Now I better go check on those kids." He said, giving her a quick kiss, making Lil blush, he quickly ran down the hall to a practice room, he could already hear them practicing a song, he opened the door and a look of shock appeared on his face, "oh, we're gonna rock that Talent show…"

* * *

Tommy and Elizabeth walked through the streets, going to a house every now and then and getting candy, "hey Daddy, what's a 'girlfriend?'"

Tommy raised an eyebrow at her, "a girlfriend…is a friend that's a girl, that's more than a friend."

"Oh…" Elizabeth said,

"Why?"

"No reason." She said.

Tommy raised an eyebrow at her.

"I heard Aunty Kimi said that Lil was your Girlfriend, so I wanted to know what it was." She said quickly.

Tommy found himself blushing, "Well…she might be."

"Really?" Elizabeth asked excitedly.

Tommy smiled, "maybe."

"That would be so cool."

"Hey Pickles!" an angry voice shouted, Tommy turned around and saw Sean walking towards him, "what I tell you about hangin' with Lil? She's mine."

"I don't think she's property." Tommy growled, "Now I suggest you leave."

"Why should I Pickles? You gonna make me?"

Tommy clenched hid fists, a small hand took his hand and he looked down at Elizabeth, who was looking up at him with scared eyes.

"Your lucky my daughters here…" Tommy muttered, "Come on Elizabeth."

"Don't turn your back on me pickles!" Sean shouted, starting to grab his shoulder, a fist shot out and punched Sean in the chin, knocking him out cold.

"Whoo!" Z shouted, jumping up and down, "Float like a butterfly sting like a bee bitch!"

"Z!" Tommy exclaimed, turning to his friend, "where did you come from?"

"Oh I was visitin' Kimi, you know, she lives on this street, and I saw this guy goin' to punch you so I punched him."

"You alright?" Tommy asked, "you have like some kind of twitch in your eye.

"Yeah man, never better." He said quickly," I just took a hit before leaving my house."

Tommy shook his head, 'that was one of the reasons why you got arrested last time." He grumbled.

"Oh come on, it was just a small hit." He said, "Barely even had the needle full."

Tommy shook his head, "don't talk that way around my daughter."

"Daddy what's he talking about?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nothing Baby, come on lets get home," he said picking her up, "I'll see ya later Z.'

"Alright Tommy!" he shouted as Tommy left, "remember! If you ever need somethin' to take the edge off I'm here!"


End file.
